Self Development starts with Self Awareness

No Time for Spirituality?

It was one of the weekday mornings when I was travelling to my office. The day was bright and sunny; the weather was humid as it was the season of Monsoons. Since I have pooled the car with my office friends and was not driving that day, I had all the time to look around and be thankful to the AC of the car. We stopped at a traffic light beneath a flyover, which happens to be the home for many homeless people in the city. My attention was caught by a boy playing with a cycle tyre underneath that flyover on the pavement. He was accompanied by a younger boy, perhaps his brother, his family members were all around them and the household material was nothing but few torn-out blankets and deformed utensils. We had a steady eye contact. He smiled and waved at me with full conviction as if I knew him. I waved back with hesitation and doubt that if I do so, he may ask for a begging. But nothing happened as I thought, he again got busy with his play with the same zeal and happiness.

We all may have come across with such instances in our life, but was different about this was the afterthought. This question came like a flash of insightful enquiry that “Can happiness be so EFFORTLESS?”

You may say how does it relate to the thought point of Spirituality? Yes, indeed it is, as happiness or joy is the by-product of spirituality i.e unconditional joy. I think we go wrong in our definitions of spirituality itself. Let’s be very clear about this first, that being spiritual is totally different from being religious. Being spiritual means being spirit / consciousness / non-dual / advait (Brahman or universe) etc. Let me simplify. We associate ourselves and our presence or interaction with the world as the physical me (my body) or the mental me (my mind). i.e either our entity is through our body or mind. For eg if we are down with disease then all of a sudden we feel that I’m so different from the world as everybody is happy and healthy around me. Even if we face an emotional setback we think, my life has ended. This is all because we associate our existence with only our body and mind.

We do exist beyond that with our consciousness and our vibrations. Our mind and body are only the receivers of the messages not the message itself. How do we feel the presence of somebody being with us even after the person is long gone? Why do we visit religious places that were once visited by Avatars of Gods or saints? The reason is as their vibrations are still felt; because they knew they exist beyond their physical and mental self. You can get hundreds of research articles by scientists and spiritual organisations on human existence that will lead you to similar insights.

Making spirituality effortless comes with the acceptance and practice of this very truth about you. If this becomes the philosophy of your life, you will never have the need to take out time for it, as that itself is YOU.